83 Chapter 83 : : Shadowless Snake

***

The Poison Crypt, third floor.

The third floor of The Poison Crypt was like a maze, even with the map, Kale had to travel slowly because in lower flames there are monsters intelligent enough to plant traps, although such monsters weren't present on the third floor, but in dungeons, monster weren't the only ones he needed to be careful of, his encounter with Elza and others was an example of that.

"So he is called The Puppeteer?" Kale asked on the way, he was second in line, Fynn was leading, Elza was beside him and the last two were following behind.

"Yes, I heard he practices a special type of martial technique that can only be used by a Martial Mage, it allows him to control wooden or metallic puppets and fight from distance but I have only heard about it and never saw it with my own eyes, so I am not too sure about the details," Elza said.

While they were talking, a Poison Swamp Lizard blocked their way, but Kale didn't pay attention to it, Fynn went ahead, backed up by Xaxa, he killed it instantly.

By now, Kale was already aware of their classes and levels, Elza and Xaxa were pure Martial Artists, while Zalie was a Mutant Martial Artist.

She didn't use Mutagen but was an inborn mutant, her trait was to temporarily change the state of matter, this was how she turned a bandage with metallic threads hidden within, into a weapon easily. Although Zalie was a Mutant Martial Artist, it was mostly because of the situation in her early days as a practitioner, it wasn't her choice, lone practitioner usually only focus on the pure class to minimize the resources consumption and efforts needed.

If Zalie wanted to start again, she would need to destroy her current cultivation base and start again, it may be easy for students with status in Academy to do that but not to the lone practitioner, the Reset Potion itself isn't easy to obtain for them.

'A Tier 4 leader and expected at least 3 capable Tier 3 followers with Tier 2 mobs numbering 4, moreover they know the teamwork, and the mobs should have been completely brainwashed by him. It's better to sharpen these rusty blades before the expected confrontation,' Kale thought.

Elza and others were only thinking about how to escape, but Kale's vision was aimed further, he knew even if they managed to escape, they would have to confront the assassin group someday.

"Wait!" Xaxa suddenly said.

Kale stopped in his steps, the others were the same, although Xaxa and Zalie had low levels they were dwarf sisters, their affinity with the earth element was very high, even a tiny vibration can tell a whole story to them.

"There is a fight going on up ahead," Zalie continued after her sister.

Kale checked the map then looked at the tunnel in front 'Up ahead should be the Boss Room, did someone entered before us? No, even if they are dwarf they couldn't be strong enough to sense the moments inside, they should only able to sense it when the fight is outside the Boss Room,'

"We will proceed with caution," Kale said, as he signalled Fynn to continue advancing 'If it's a team that is hunting the Boss Monster on the third floor they should have some ability, I can use them to at least test that old man's limit or make the guild make a move against them,'

After thinking that much, Kale commanded all the Ghost Spirits that were patrolling the area to return and hide inside their respective «Ghost Beads» again, although others couldn't see them, Kale still didn't want to take a risk because according to him, his knowledge on this world was very lacking, he didn't even know how to check if someone is a necromancer or if someone stronger can see his Ghost Spirits.

He then put on his mask and activated «Mulan's Earring».

Fynn moved forward cautiously, under the guidance of Xaxa and Zalie they quickly arrived near the place where the fight was going on.

***

They then caught the sight of the three adventurers fighting a horde of Poison Swamp Lizards led by a Thorny Swamp Queen.

Thorny Swamp Queen was a rare variant of Poison Swamp Lizard, their appearance and size are mostly similar except that its scales are covered by sharp spikes that threaten to penetrate the body of any enemies around it.

All the three adventurers engaged in the battle were wearing masks, the one fighting at front was a man wearing a monkey mask. He had a strong and sharp aura to himself, from the way he fought he was Martial Mage, he was using twin daggers and Earth Spells to alone deal with the Thorny Swamp Queen and three Poison Swamp Lizard.

The other was a young woman wearing a cat mask, most of her body was covered in her cloak, only some of her stomach and neck was exposed that revealed the chocolaty lustrous skin hers. She held a long staff in her hand and was using Water Spells to slow down the lizards, preventing them from advancing.

The last one at the back of those two was a teenage girl wearing a fox mask, unlike the woman, most of her body was exposed due to her wearing short clothing that allowed her to move freely. She had tanned skin like she was from coastal regions, her figure was well balanced, although she was young, the near-perfect curves of her body made her look mature than her age, a brown lizard tattoo was present on her arm near the shoulder.

The girl held a long thin sword in her hand, she had a weaker aura compared to the other two, but she looked experienced in combat, she was moving skillfully without any rash movements when fighting the monster lizards.

Fynn narrowed his eyes at the brown lizard tattoo on her body, his eyelids slightly flickered, he then transmitted a message to Kale "That tattoo, it represents one of the grand barbarian tribes living in the wild, those people follow old traditions, travels in groups and doesn't usually live in a society like this, they are born with innate strength and stamina that's why they are courted by many to serve under them, but they prefer pure freedom above anything else,"

Kale heard his words and nodded, but his eyes were locked onto the man fighting at front lines instead 'I am not mistaking it, these three are the same trio I saw when leaving after entering The Poison Crypt for the first time, I didn't think they were this strong, especially this man, his control over Astral Qi is very high and it seems purer compared to what a Tier 3 should have, is he holding back? It almost feels like he is only allowing the lizard he wants to pass through... Is he training them or something-'

When Kale was still observing him, Elza came closer to him and whispered in his ear "I can't see his life level, he has probably crossed Level 30,"

Kale frowned, Elza's level was the highest among them, she was almost at the bottleneck of the next realm, so if she couldn't see it then he was at least 3 levels higher than her, meaning he had already crossed Level 30 reaching Mortal Transcend Stage.

He was still thinking when the man wearing the monkey mask suddenly paused for a moment and glanced at him.

Kale's eyebrows twitched 'He noticed us from that far? An investigative spell? No, who would be idiotic enough to waste their energy on that when fighting muddle-headed monsters that don't even know how to hide and sneak attack. It's confirmed, this man is indeed Tier 4, the woman beside him should be around Tier 3 while the weakest one is that girl who should be at the same stage as me, what is she even doing here?'

The man only paused at Kale for a second, he then switched glances between Fynn and Elza, then raised his hand and waved, signalling them to come and help.

Fynn was taken back, he was about to turn but Kale's voice rang in his head, telling him to not act stupidly in any way.

Just after signalling for help, the man got surrounded by the lizards and got occupied again in a worse situation.

'That guy, what does he want? He could easily take care of them, but he is asking for help, even making it look like he is in trouble, his intentions don't seem good but we can't retreat either,' Kale quickly thought of all possible case scenarios then formed up a quick plan.

Under his command, Elza raised her long sword and shouted "Go team, we will help them, Fynn go support the woman, I will help him, Xaxa and Zalie you go and protect that girl, Little Kale be together with the two big sisters and don't get separated,"

When she finished speaking, she found Kale staring at her, the look in his eyes clearly said 'I don't remember adding Little in front of my name...'

"Junior brother, why are you still standing there, come with the big sisters," Xaxa said with her head held high, as she looked at Kale with her lips curling up into a smile.

'Just you wait...' Although dissatisfied, Kale still acted according to plan, he nodded and followed behind her.

Elza expertise in hand to hand combat using her claws, the sword was mostly a disguise for her to hide her abilities, but it didn't mean she didn't know how to use a sword, she had achieved a decent mastery in sword too.

She raised her sword and cut down any lizards blocking her way, Elza displayed her skills with the sword and quickly lessened the man's burden to a great extent, at the same time, she was fully alert of his every moment. Kale had told her to try and retreat if something happens.

In fact, the reason he made Elza send him and the two sisters near the weakest girl was to take her hostage in case something happens.

If it wasn't for the girl being at Tier 2 then he wouldn't have stepped forward to help and would directly retreat even if it carried risk.

Xaxa wielded a staff similar to an octane metallic club with spikes, and Zalie wore gauntlets, both covered Kale from both right and left directions as they smashed the lizards away and made their way to the girl and the woman.

With their help, the fight turned into a one-sided slaughter, Kale stood at the back during the whole time, he only cast spells like ‹Mud Wall› and ‹Mud Trap› at Grand Master level to slow down the enemies and didn't engage in the battle directly. His Tier 1 spells did little good but no one blamed him for trying to help.

Compared to him, the fox masked girl used hit and run strategy, she would put her higher physical abilities on display as she struck the injured lizards at their wounds using her sword and then, she would retreat quickly, her hit and run strategy was highly effective considering her strength.

Soon the fight was over.

Once the Thorny Lizard Queen was slain, the other monster lizards stopped coordinating, they either died or ran away in fear of losing their lives.

After the fight was over, Elza as ordered, offered some potions to the three people to recover from their injuries, after using the potions, the man came to Kale's side followed by the two female adventurers.

"I am Ajin, the leader of Animal Mask Adventurer Group, may I ask which group are you from, and who is your leader," The man with the monkey mask said in a polite tone.

Kale looked at him through his mask 'Hehehe, leader my foot, at that day, this little girl was walking forwards while he and the woman followed him from behind, and why would a Tier 4 leader come with a Tier 2 girl here? Regardless of the fact if he is the leader or not, the girl probably has a higher status, a hidden or runaway Noble child maybe? Who cares, they can be of use,'

Kale had already recognised the trio, he possessed strong memory and with the help of his ‹Auto Photographic Memory›, be needed but a thought, to scan through his memory and confirm their identities.

The weakest girl was indeed none other than the runaway Second Generation Hero from

He then sent a message to Elza {Don't let your guard down, he hadn't removed his mask yet, which means his intentions may not be honest as his tone, he may have not even decided what to do with us, if you give the wrong answer now, then the consequences will be bad, speak what I tell you too,}

Elza didn't know the sound transmission technique, so she could only receive messages and couldn't send them.

She acted normally and started reciting what Kale said "I am Elza, the newly appointed leader of Shadowless Snake Adventurer Group, our group isn't from here so you may have not heard our name, we are just here to acquire research materials from The Poison Crypt,"

Ajin nodded then replied "I see, so it was like this, I thank Miss Elza for her help, if it was not for you then we would have been in trouble, your timely help saved my team from the unseen danger, as the honoured rules of adventures, all these monsters and the material acquired from them belong to you,"